serenity in the drop
by gnh2194
Summary: dropped behind enemy lines, follow theta squad as they fight the covenant. first story.
1. The Drop

serenity in the drop-

War is a constant, a constant noise, a constant adrenaline rush, a constant agony, but there's also those hidden moments of serenity. For each his own, mine comes the moment my pod accelerates to the ground, there's nothing like it. No sounds but my breathing and my thoughts. ODST's hardly ever get any Intel, and today was one of those days, *gunny only had the minimum for us, who, what and when. Who'd be going, what we had to do and when we'd drop. We liked it that way though, nothing to consider. Just action and reaction, do or die.

1305, may 1st 2545

"Hail! Stop day dreaming and shift it, drops in t-minus 10." Patterson said as he gave me a shove in the back. "You're blocking my pod!"

"I'm going!" I protest as I shift over towards my pods hatch. "This shits gonna be fucking crazy once we get there."

"Oh really, whys that lance corporal? Do tell, we all know you've got the big picture."

I turn to the voice, knowing who it is, none other than my corporal leaning against the bulkhead next to the hatch "I don't know anything you don't corporal, I'm just saying look at hat yai, no intel, and we drop straight into a squad of hinge-heads, then miridem, were told "Hot drop! Hot drop!" and what do we get? Nothing but silence till ex-fil."

"Ha, he's got a point" he says with a shrug, as he moves toward his pod. "Alright boys, hook up and shut up, time to head to the office" finalized with the pneumatic hiss of his pods hatch.

I walk over to Patterson's pod for our ritual, or should I say the usual threats, "stay alive down there dumbass, don't make me come to hell just to drag your sorry ass back." as I lean in to tap on his visor, we'd been together since boot camp, I'd always dragged him out of trouble... and into it.

"rah!" was all he ever replied with at this point, he always had to psych himself up for a drop just as I begin my way back to my pod the red lights flash

"Fuck" _one minute left_, I rush to my pod to strap in. I begin taking deep breaths and sit there in silence mulling over what were about to do, drop in behind enemy lines, regular day at the office for theta. I don't wait long but it feels like an eternity, then one moment I'm just sitting here, the next I'm hurtling towards the ground.

Before I go on I'm Hail, lance corporal Gabriel Hail, you've met my buddy lance corporal Patterson, patt for short, or for me "dumb ass", then there's lance corporal Lightner and corporal Wilson, and sergeant west our squad leader then our new boy, pvt Lancaster, lance for short, were theta squad and this is our story

The rides never long but it's always a sudden stop, I shake of the landing and move to hit the hatch release, to be greeted with a deafening whomp, I jump out to be greeted with the sight I'll never forget, an elite ultra baring down on me with his energy sword raised, I react before I can think, shoulder charging the elite while drawing my knife from my shoulder holster and slamming it home in the elites neck. As the elite gurgles it last breaths plasma round fly past me from the right, I role leaving my knife behind and seek cover behind my pod, returning fire once I'm behind cover, "anyone else making new friends or is it just me?" I radio trying to find out what's happening to everyone else.

"Hail! Its Patterson, hold tight, we coming from up over the ridge, looks like you got knocked of course somehow. Eta, 2 mikes"

"well hurry it up, my knew friend doesn't seem too happy" I say as I pull the pin on a frag grenade and lob it around my cover, followed by the explosion of the grenade and silence, I peak out to figure out if there's a threat or not, nothing moves. I step out of cover with my SMG raised. With a furious screamer the elite charges out of cover. I level my SMG on the elite and **click**... "Fuck"

A/N

well, hi.

i'm gnh and this is my first story, please review id love to hear if i did well or if i need work, constructive criticism only please, no need for flames,

gnh out


	2. Targets

Chapter 2

1309, may 1st 2545

**Click… **"Fuck" _no time to reload_, as I let go of my SMG I remember my, knife still in the elite from before. _Too late,_ is all I can think before a kick to the stomach knocks the wind out of me, throwing me into a tree. All I can do is sit there, trying to regain my breath, as the elite levels his plasma rifle on me for it not fire. It drops it rifle to grab a energy sword from its belt and move towards me. The elite begins its swing only for a shot too ring out. The elite's shields flashed, then fail. A second shot follows dropping the elite. "Took your damn sweet time, took the scenic route did ya?"

"Course we did, you never know how long time they glass the place, might as well see all the sights we can before then" said Wilson, never had been one to miss an opportunity for a joke. "Now that you've had your chance to meet the locals let's get too work."

"You alright, hail? Nothing broken?" my sergeant's voice cuts through

"Yea only thing is my bruised pride."

"Good, then link up at these coordinates, and maintain radio silence as much as possible" sending them through to my HUD.

"Moving now, just gotta collect my kit" I move to pick up my SMG and reload, before moving to my pod to pull my sniper from within, I hadn't had time to pull it out before, not that it would have been of much use with how close we'd been. _One last thing to do, _I think before walking over to the elite id tackled, placing my boot on the elites shoulder, I bend over and yank my knife from its neck cleaning the blade of on its shoulder plate. As I slide it back into its sheath I take in my surroundings for the first time since my abrupt landing, I found myself in a sand filled environment with sparse trees and shrubs, in a ravine. _Not much cover, gonna be a tough time staying hidden._

I make my way towards the RV point to find the squad waiting. "Well now that were all here let's move to the objective, our jobs simple, we're here to take out the anti-air and any personal along with it, to clear way for air support, then there's a pelican with our names on it" sergeant said

"Any intel on the placement of the guns? Anything bout fortifications?" I say hoping that there was something to be happy about though I'd learned to not expect much.

"None, pilots can't get a fly-by, so were going to have to do our own recce of the place"

Me and Patterson share a look, "typical" said in unison.

We found the covenants anti-air dug in in a gully surrounded by shallow banks. "Alright simple plan, four move in clear the area, plant the explosives, get out, hail, lance you're on overwatch with the sniper, slot the leadership if you can, other than that pick you're targets and once were move to the exfil point."

"Rah" boring duty again, but then again id had more than enough excitement for this drop "when do we move?"

"Hour after dusk, so night vision on and noise discipline, use your acknowledge lights and radio as a last resort, I'll give you a double flash of green when we're going in"

2038 may 1st 2545

So here I find myself laying up in a sniping position 1000 meter out, with nothing to do but kill time, so I pop the seals of my helmet, and remove it to light a cigarette "want one rookie?"

"Regs say we're not supposed to remove our helmets in the field"

"Ha, kid who cares, not like anyone will know, or care. A smoke isn't gonna hurt anyone out here."

"Fine, pass one here." I hand him one and a lighter, and we lay there in silence, until we finish.

"Alright buckets on, parties gonna start soon, hit the elites first." And so we sat there waiting until we got a signal, I took the time to count the elites, 6 in all one major among them, he'd be my first shot, I followed him as he walked until my acknowledge light flashed twice. I pulled the trigger and with a hint of satisfaction saw the elite drop, switching targets I pull the trigger twice in quick succession, 2 elites down, but no others in sight, "lance eyes on anymore?"

"No I count 3 down, leaving the grunts and jackals for all the rest but no other contacts"

"Good now we wait and then hit the exfil."

And so we waited, until the acknowledgement light lit red, our exfil light as we call it "let's shift it we've got a 20 minute window" we moved at a fast walk, fast enough to get there but not so fast that we made too much noise, no need to assume we were the only ones out here. Lance was roughly 10 to 12 paces ahead of my when I felt a stabbing pain through my leg and my body flipping through the air, as I hit the ground all I can see is a haze and a glowing light, an elite must have stabbed my leg and flipped me over its shoulder. Lance turned around, he must have heard my landing, he leveled his SMG and sprayed a burst at the elite causing his cloak to shimmer, but it wasn't enough, the elite was already on him, it swung its sword for lance to dodge, but it wasn't enough, the sword sliced through one of weak points of the armor, the seal on his neck. I scramble to grab my rifle, and sit up. Guessing were the elites at I pull the trigger. Its cloak fails and it falls, I waste no time and stand up and limp as fast as I can to lance, pulling a bandage as I go, as soon as I get the bandage on I'm on the radio. "SERGEANT, WE NEED A MEDIC NOW! LANCE IS HIT, CUT TO THE THROAT. IM WORKING ON STOPPING THE BLEEDING, BUT HES GONNA NEED EXTRACTION FAST!" "You're gonna be ok lance, it's not that bad just a scratch…" and that's what I did, I stayed there giving him encouragement until the pelican landed, even after I notice the light in his eyes fade.

a/n well one more chapter down, next chapter i might add a actual character from halo not my own creation, so we'll see,

gnh out


End file.
